I've been around long enough to know that SAM raves about NETGEAR switches, which carries a lot of weight with me. Since we're looking at buying some switches, I am looking hard at NETGEAR. What I'm interested in knowing is why those of you on here who use NETGEAR chose to do so. How do their switches stack up against HP Procurve and the Avaya/Nortel switches (the other ones we're considering)? What is it about NETGEAR that makes their switches rock your world?

30 Replies

For me, the big value in Netgear ProSafe switches is in price. They are good (not the best) switches but they are incredibly well priced. It's not that I think that they are the best (except for their super fast unmanaged switches which are some of, if not the, best low latency switch around) but that their value is just so good.

Thanks for the reply, Scott. Since they're not the best switches in the world, perhaps I should look at the areas where they're lacking and see if those are things that matter to us and our environment. Can you be more specific regarding the areas where they're, shall we say, not quite exceptional? I'm guessing that the managed switches have higher latency. Would that be a fair statement?

Thanks for the reply, Scott. Since they're not the best switches in the world, perhaps I should look at the areas where they're lacking and see if those are things that matter to us and our environment. Can you be more specific regarding the areas where they're, shall we say, not quite exceptional? I'm guessing that the managed switches have higher latency. Would that be a fair statement?

Managed switches in general have higher latency just due to the management process. That's pretty much across the board. Putting in a Layer 3 or Layer 4 switch will add overhead too.

You can get Netgears in a range of options from Unmanaged to Smart to Managed with varying features. I tend to use Smart due to environmental size. Very easy to use but not built for enterprise-scale management, for that you need "managed."

The biggest factor that you will likely find is that they will, from time to time, burn out on you. Sad face. Sucks and sounds ridiculous but, in reality, the price is so good that you can easily afford to upgrade rather than deal with the older unit. So you get the latest and greatest more often if they do burn out. Typically this is more an issue with the ProSafe firewalls than the switches, but it happens.

I like the "pay half as much as replace in five years" approach because I get newer switches more often for less.

Managed switches in general have higher latency just due to the management process. That's pretty much across the board. Putting in a Layer 3 or Layer 4 switch will add overhead too.

You can get Netgears in a range of options from Unmanaged to Smart to Managed with varying features. I tend to use Smart due to environmental size. Very easy to use but not built for enterprise-scale management, for that you need "managed."

The biggest factor that you will likely find is that they will, from time to time, burn out on you. Sad face. Sucks and sounds ridiculous but, in reality, the price is so good that you can easily afford to upgrade rather than deal with the older unit. So you get the latest and greatest more often if they do burn out. Typically this is more an issue with the ProSafe firewalls than the switches, but it happens.

I like the "pay half as much as replace in five years" approach because I get newer switches more often for less.

Ok. So we have about 100 workstations, a dozen or so printers and six Windows servers. These all have dual NICs. I would like something stackable, where I could perform link aggregation using different ports on different switches. Oh, and we're talking gigabit to the desktop. Would GS724TS or GS748TS switches would fit the bill?

Also, when you say they fail from time to time, are we talking in terms of months or years? If we're talking every 4-5 years or so, that's acceptable, I think. Especially if NETGEAR replaces them under warranty.

Yes, once the switches are stacked, the entire stack is managed as one virtual switch. You may then connect to ports on different physical switches in the stack and create a LAG (802.3AD). If one of the physical switches fails, then the stacking loop topology allows continuous operation.

While I'm a Netgear fan, I'm also a D-Link fan, but I'm a bigger fan of the 'buy the value devices and live with a failure or two' concept.

I typically buy the $500 solution instead of the $5,000 solution and (here's the important part), buy an extra (spare) device (or two, or three, depending on the quantity). The electronics parts and pieces today are ALL getting to a point that if the features and functions are there, the reliability differences between those two levels is small. (I'll say that the reliability difference between the $50 and the $500 device is pretty large). Having that 'hot spare' in place has saved me more times that I can count, and simply plugging in a new device beats even a '4 hour service contract'.

Here in the heartland, the majority of the failures we see are lighting / power related. The high dollar stuff has the same trouble with those problems and the value stuff.

I also find the user interfaces better in the Netgear/D-Link switches than the higher dollar stuff. I just took a look at the GS724TS switch online, and I may have to get a couple to try them out.

In my opinion, Netgear produces some great switches but if you're looking for enteprise class reliability the ProCurves fit the bill. Although more expensive, I've found the investment to be worth every cent. I'm currently running more than 30 ProCurve switches in various office locations and I've only ever had one failure in over 3 years and the was because the switch itself was physically dropped and damaged.

Easy to setup from the CLI and if you add on HP's network director then you can't go wrong. We also chose to take the 4 hour response on failed switches so I think we're covered.

I have been using Netgear for about 2 years now. Have been very happy and no issues. My old switch was a Dell but lacked the Gigabit speed that I wanted to upgrade too. Netgear had a supper fantastic deal. I got a GSM7248 switch with a free PS3 for like $1100.00. I would have spent much more for a comparable switch by another name. There has been no issues that I have seen and the users have been happy. I really noticed the speed difference when we migrated to SBS 2011.

When we migrated to SBS 2011 I needed more ports because of going virtual. I bought a small JGS524 switch and moved all my printer over to it. Under $300 bucks, but I do miss the management part.

My only complaint is their customer service reps. I needed the mouting brackets for my switch to be placed in a rack, I lost the origional ones, and it was totally FUBAR. I had to provide proof that I owned a Netgear switch before the CSR would help me. It took about 4 days to get an answer but I did get the brackets

Adtran switches match the ProCurve for value and reliability. I also like the Netgear and have some of both. It took a long time, but they finally incorporated features from the old Bay Networks line which was awesome during the 90's.

To echo SAM's comments, the Netgear switch line is certainly a very, very good value for it price range, but by no means the best in class. We have several of their GS724T units and for a 'basic' managed switch, it rocks without a doubt and you can not beat the price point you get those at. Foe enterprise level stuff I would go HP...But with the uncertainty in that brand as a whole right now, who knows..Yes, I understand that it is reported to be just a spin off of their bottom end consumer stuff, but still...

For enterprise level stuff I would go HP...But with the uncertainty in that brand as a whole right now, who knows..Yes, I understand that it is reported to be just a spin off of their bottom end consumer stuff, but still...

If anything I think that HP dedicating itself to focusing on its enterprise brands to be a good thing for choosing those products rather than a bad thing. If anything, uncertainty should be lower. They will be more focused and less trying to "do everything" than they were before.

If anything I think that HP dedicating itself to focusing on its enterprise brands to be a good thing for choosing those products rather than a bad thing. If anything, uncertainty should be lower. They will be more focused and less trying to "do everything" than they were before.

Check out Cisco and their small business segment. The switches are new and we have started to recently switch from Netgear GS748T to the Cisco SG200-50 switches. Both v2 and V3 of the GS748T were issues for us.

The last issue was one netgear switch would flake out and take out all the switches. After putting in a couple new Cisco's and branching the Netgears off of them so no 2 Netgears were connected we found the problem switch. In the end the Netgear would flake out every 1.5 hours requiring us to reboot all the switches in the office to recover.

Cisco also has some nice WAPs in the small business segment. The AP1040 series which is beats the Orinoco/Proxim AP's on features, configurability, and support price.

PS: Cisco's support is excellent and their devices after supported for 5 years after EOL. Most come with a limited lifetime warranty also, just pay for support. The AP's support was under $200 for 5 years and switches was $50 for 3 years for NBD replacement with support.

Wow, sorry to hear about your issues using the GS748T's as this is the first report I have heard on issues like that...Gezzz....bad stuff. Possibly I need to be on the lookout for failures with ours...:-<

Ethan wrote:

Check out Cisco and their small business segment. The switches are new and we have started to recently switch from Netgear GS748T to the Cisco SB200-50 switches. Both v2 and V3 of the GS748T were issues for us.

The last issue was one netgear switch would flake out and take out all the switches. After putting in a couple new Cisco's and branching the Netgears off of them so no 2 Netgears were connected we found the problem switch. In the end the Netgear would flake out every 1.5 hours requiring us to reboot all the switches in the office to recover.

Cisco also has some nice WAPs in the small business segment. The AP1040 series which is beats the Orinoco/Proxim AP's on features, configurability, and support price.

Check out Cisco and their small business segment. The switches are new and we have started to recently switch from Netgear GS748T to the Cisco SG200-50 switches. Both v2 and V3 of the GS748T were issues for us.

The last issue was one netgear switch would flake out and take out all the switches. After putting in a couple new Cisco's and branching the Netgears off of them so no 2 Netgears were connected we found the problem switch. In the end the Netgear would flake out every 1.5 hours requiring us to reboot all the switches in the office to recover.

Cisco also has some nice WAPs in the small business segment. The AP1040 series which is beats the Orinoco/Proxim AP's on features, configurability, and support price.

PS: Cisco's support is excellent and their devices after supported for 5 years after EOL. Most come with a limited lifetime warranty also, just pay for support. The AP's support was under $200 for 5 years and switches was $50 for 3 years for NBD replacement with support.

I've dealt with Linksys support before... they won't even pick up the phone - literally they would just shut down their call center and go home. I learned my lesson dealing with them long ago.

Wow, sorry to hear about your issues using the GS748T's as this is the first report I have heard on issues like that...Gezzz....bad stuff. Possibly I need to be on the lookout for failures with ours...:-<

Ethan wrote:

Check out Cisco and their small business segment. The switches are new and we have started to recently switch from Netgear GS748T to the Cisco SB200-50 switches. Both v2 and V3 of the GS748T were issues for us.

The last issue was one netgear switch would flake out and take out all the switches. After putting in a couple new Cisco's and branching the Netgears off of them so no 2 Netgears were connected we found the problem switch. In the end the Netgear would flake out every 1.5 hours requiring us to reboot all the switches in the office to recover.

Cisco also has some nice WAPs in the small business segment. The AP1040 series which is beats the Orinoco/Proxim AP's on features, configurability, and support price.

I'd still rather replace them once in a while than deal with Linksys, or sorry "Cisco", again. Our track record with the Netgears has been far better.

Obviously you need thousands of switches of both to do a comparison. What I know for certain is that Cisco's support was the worst ever.

Wow, sorry to hear about your issues using the GS748T's as this is the first report I have heard on issues like that...Gezzz....bad stuff. Possibly I need to be on the lookout for failures with ours...:-<

Ethan wrote:

Check out Cisco and their small business segment. The switches are new and we have started to recently switch from Netgear GS748T to the Cisco SG200-50 switches. Both v2 and V3 of the GS748T were issues for us.

The last issue was one netgear switch would flake out and take out all the switches. After putting in a couple new Cisco's and branching the Netgears off of them so no 2 Netgears were connected we found the problem switch. In the end the Netgear would flake out every 1.5 hours requiring us to reboot all the switches in the office to recover.

Cisco also has some nice WAPs in the small business segment. The AP1040 series which is beats the Orinoco/Proxim AP's on features, configurability, and support price.

We made Netgear take back all of our V2 and give us V3's because more than half had issues. And Netgear has dropped phone support unless you have a contract. You also have to prove to them it's a hardware defect or they will charge you for support.

We made Netgear take back all of our V2 and give us V3's because more than half had issues. And Netgear has dropped phone support unless you have a contract. You also have to prove to them it's a hardware defect or they will charge you for support.

Ok, that kinda sucks and very good to know...But with SAM as for the price point, just replace...

Wow, sorry to hear about your issues using the GS748T's as this is the first report I have heard on issues like that...Gezzz....bad stuff. Possibly I need to be on the lookout for failures with ours...:-<

Ethan wrote:

Check out Cisco and their small business segment. The switches are new and we have started to recently switch from Netgear GS748T to the Cisco SG200-50 switches. Both v2 and V3 of the GS748T were issues for us.

The last issue was one netgear switch would flake out and take out all the switches. After putting in a couple new Cisco's and branching the Netgears off of them so no 2 Netgears were connected we found the problem switch. In the end the Netgear would flake out every 1.5 hours requiring us to reboot all the switches in the office to recover.

Cisco also has some nice WAPs in the small business segment. The AP1040 series which is beats the Orinoco/Proxim AP's on features, configurability, and support price.

We made Netgear take back all of our V2 and give us V3's because more than half had issues. And Netgear has dropped phone support unless you have a contract. You also have to prove to them it's a hardware defect or they will charge you for support.

We made Netgear take back all of our V2 and give us V3's because more than half had issues. And Netgear has dropped phone support unless you have a contract. You also have to prove to them it's a hardware defect or they will charge you for support.

Ok, that kinda sucks and very good to know...But with SAM as for the price point, just replace...

Well replace when they break. If a whole batch of "new" ones doesn't work you rely on support.

Thanks, everyone, for your feedback. After doing some more research, it seems to make a lot of sense to buy these switches plus a few spares. Considering our environment is fairly dirty, I can't see how any switch would be so reliable we wouldn't need to have spares on hand. I also don't see the point in spending significantly more money on switches when this is the case.